Chapter 14 #3
Marquis takes the note from me and looks up with a frown. ‘Dragons can’t heal humans with the Koinamens. That’s why Chumana had to give Atlas her blood to save him.’
‘So the note’s a lie,’ I say.
‘Whoever wrote it must know we were looking for the wyverns,’ Serena says. ‘Maybe Wyvernmire is trying to confuse us.’
‘Or,’ Atlas says quietly, ‘what you suspected back in the tunnels is true.’ He looks at me with determination in his eyes. ‘There’s something very different about the echolocation of the Hebridean Wyverns.’
‘What?’ says Marquis.
I turn to my cousin. ‘Their echolocation sounds different.’
Marquis’s jaw clenches. ‘You’ve listened to the wyverns’ Koinamens?’
I nod. ‘And they’re . . . they’re not like other dragons. What if this is what Hollingsworth wanted me to know?’
‘You two and that fucking loquisonus machine.’
Marquis spits the words so hard that I recoil.
‘You’re obsessed, the pair of you. Was this your plan the whole time? Is that why you insisted we bring it with us?’
‘I only listened once!’
‘We would never have found the tunnels without the machine,’ says Atlas.
‘What happened to the Koinamens being sacred?’ Marquis says, his eyes flashing. ‘You promised Chumana you’d leave it alone, but now it’s distracting you from what’s important.’
‘This is important!’ Atlas says.
‘It’s not if it doesn’t help us win the war!’ Marquis roars.
A crow flees from a tree branch with a caw.
‘Cousin,’ I say calmly, ‘what if their echolocation is how we win the war?’
Atlas’s gaze softens. ‘She’s right,’ he says, his eyes still on me. ‘The wyverns are different.’
It’s like a veil has been lifted from my mind, revealing, finally, the path we must take.
‘Maybe wyvern echolocation can heal humans,’ I say, standing up from the grave. ‘Maybe it has hidden strengths.’
‘Viv,’ Marquis says in a warning tone.
‘Strengths that can win the war!’
‘We don’t even know if what’s written on that memory scroll is true,’ Serena says.
‘And if it is, and Hollingsworth knows about the wyvern echolocation, she would have just told you back in London,’ says Gideon.
‘Maybe she was going to,’ I say breathlessly, ‘except I was arrested.’
I turn to Atlas. He’s looking at me in a thoughtful silence, his eyes willing me on. I flush beneath his gaze. He believes what I’m saying and that fills me with confidence. I brandish the memory scroll at them.
‘Back during the egg-choosing ceremony, when the wyverns were echolocating with the eggs, I felt something like electricity in the air. I thought I was imagining it, but I wasn’t.
I felt it because their Koinamens is so strong that it can touch even human minds.
This must be the information we’ve been looking for,’ I say excitedly.
‘Hollingsworth wants the wyverns to use their unique echolocation to help the rebels win the war . . .’ I trail off.
Wait.
‘So her grand idea,’ Marquis says icily, ‘is to exploit the wyverns’ Koinamens to help the Coalition? The same Coalition that agreed never to touch dragon echolocation because of what it could be used for, what Wyvernmire wants to use it for?’
I feel myself deflating at Marquis’s words.
‘If humans were to learn of the existence of echolocation – of the loquisonus machines – they could use it to control and oppress dragons,’ Marquis says through gritted teeth. He looks from me to Atlas. ‘You both know this. So what the hell’s got into you?’
I hang my head, feeling sick. He’s right. Chumana told me to keep the Koinamens a secret for that very reason.
‘If the wyverns agree to help us – which they won’t – and we win the war, then the whole world will want to know how. The existence of dragon echolocation would become common knowledge,’ Gideon says. ‘Why would the leader of the Human-Dragon Coalition want that?’
‘It must be more complicated than that,’ Atlas says quietly. ‘Hollingsworth must have a plan.’
I shake my head. ‘Atlas, they’re right, this can’t be it. Hollingsworth would never exploit the dragons to win the war. That would make her as bad as Wyvernmire.’
‘But what if, somehow,’ Atlas says, ‘she could protect the wyverns?’
‘She can’t,’ Marquis says bluntly. ‘So we stick to the plan, find Chumana.’
‘What if, when they use their Koinamens, the rebels could ensure their safety?’ Atlas stares at me, ignoring Marquis completely.
‘That’s impossible, Atlas.’
‘How do you know?’ he bursts. ‘God dammit, Featherswallow, why don’t you listen for once?’
A deathly silence fills the graveyard.
I sway inwardly. His words cut a wound and I fill it with fire.
‘Why don’t you listen?’ I spit. ‘Or is that not necessary for your secret mission?’
Atlas’s face is stony. It’s almost like he hasn’t heard me, except I know from the tremble of his lip that he has.
‘Secret mission?’ Marquis repeats.
They all stare at Atlas as his face grows hot.
‘The rebels gave you a mission,’ I say slowly. ‘One you’ve been keeping from us. I read it in your diary.’
A thunderous expression passes across his face. ‘You read my diary?’
‘Yes.’
I meet his eye, too angry to feel ashamed. A gust of rain-filled wind blows across the graveyard and the bushes around us rustle.
‘The echolocation,’ Atlas says. ‘I think it’s key.’
‘You sound awfully sure,’ Gideon says. ‘So what do you know that we don’t?’
‘Is that what this extra mission has to do with?’ Serena says. ‘The Koinamens?’
‘I . . . I can’t tell you,’ Atlas replies with a scowl. ‘You’ve just got to trust me.’
‘How can we trust you if you’re keeping secrets?’ I say.
His eyes fill with hurt. ‘Viv . . .’
A long whistles sounds.
I feel a rush of dread.
‘That wasn’t a bird,’ Marquis says in a low voice.
My eyes lift to the sky as my body screams at me to run, but I see no dragon. A figure erupts from the bushes and in his hand I see the flash of a knife. Gideon flinches.
‘Don’t run into the forest—’ he shouts, but the rest of his sentence is drowned out as I dart instinctively towards the trees.
I hear the slap of boots behind me, Marquis’s ragged breath at my shoulder.
‘Viv, on your left!’ Atlas screams from somewhere unseen.
My head snaps to the left just as a group of people storm out from behind a tree and I’m slammed to the ground.